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The A, B, C of the Classical Series of Coins Under Tincomarus

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THE A, B, C OF THE CLASSICAL SERIES OF COINS UNDER TINCOMARUS DAVID WOODS TINCOMARUS, who declared himself to be a COM(mii).F(ilius) (‘son of Commius’) upon much of his coinage, ruled a region around Chichester, Noviomagus Reginorum under the Romans, sometime probably about 25 BC–AD 10.1 He struck coinage in gold and silver, two denomina- tions in each, staters and quarter staters in gold, and a unit and minim in silver, to call them by their modern terms. According to the most recent catalogue, he struck 7 types of stater, 9 types of quarter stater, 12 types of silver unit, and 4 types of minim, and this coinage has been divided into four successive series on the basis of its changing style and themes – the Celtic, Proto-Classical, Classical and Crude.2 It has been argued that ‘striking quality, metallurgy, and distribution indicate that the Crude and Classical series were probably from the same mint’, and that ‘it is only in the Celtic series that other mints can be suggested’. 3 Consequently, it is the working assumption here that all of the coins of the Classical series were produced at the same mint, even though no detailed die-study has yet been published to prove this beyond a doubt. Bearing this in mind, the purpose of this article is to investigate the potential sig- nificance of a number of isolated letters – A, B, or C – that occur on the obverse of three different coins in the Classical series, on a quarter stater, a silver unit, and a minim. Fig. 1. (a) Gold quarter stater of Tincomarus (ABC 1076), A-Type; Spink Auction 15049, 2 Dec. 2015, lot 124 (© Spink & Son Ltd); (b) gold quarter stater of Tincomarus (ABC 1076), B-Type; A.H. Baldwin Auction 99, 4 May 2016, lot 793 (© A. H. Baldwin & Sons Ltd). Note: All illustrations in this article are twice actual size. Fig. 2. (a) Silver unit of Tincomarus (ABC 1106), A-Type; Spink Auction 15049, 2 Dec. 2015, lot. 134 (© Spink & Son Ltd); (b) silver unit of Tincomarus (ABC 1106), B-Type; Spink Auction 15049, 2 Dec. 2015, lot. 132 (© Spink & Son Ltd). 1 For the sake of convenience, I follow the regnal dates in ABC, but these are approximate at best. For the geographical distribution of Tincomarus’ coinage, see Bean 2000, 137−9. 2 I rely on ABC for the number of types. For the series, see Bean 2000, 127−37, 240−3. 3 See Bean 2000, 136. David Woods, ‘The A, B, C of the Classical series of coins under Tincomarus’, British Numismatic Journal 87 (2017), 1–10. ISSN 0143–8956. © British Numismatic Society. 2 DAVID WOODS Fig. 3. (a) Silver minim of Tincomarus (ABC 1133), A-Type (CCI-981968); (b) silver minim of Tincomarus (ABC 1133), C-Type (CCI-00268) (© Celtic Coin Index). The quarter stater depicts a winged head, normally identified as Medusa, on the reverse, and the legend TINC within a corded tablet on the obverse (Fig. 1).4 The letter C always occurs above the centre of the tablet, while a letter A or B always occurs below.5 The silver unit depicts an eagle with outspread wings confronting a snake on the reverse, and the legend TINCOM around a laureate head on the obverse (Fig. 2).6 A letter A or B always occurs behind the head away from the main legend.7 Finally, the minim depicts a bird picking at a group of berries at the lower part of a branch on the reverse, and a pair of interlocking squares with incuse sides on the obverse (Fig. 3).8 A letter A, B, or C always occurs at the centre of the interlocking squares.9 The minim bears no legend, so the attribution to Tincomarus rather than to his successor Verica cannot be certain. However, the fact both that Tincomarus struck two other minims depicting the same pair of interlocking squares, and that he is the only ruler in the region known to have included variable letters on his coins in this way, suggests that he was most likely responsible for the striking of this minim also.10 It is interesting that only one type within each of the three denominations displays the variable letters, a fact that suggests that these three types were probably all struck during the same approximate period, but there does not seem to have been any attempt to enforce greater consistency in appearance otherwise. Indeed, the most noteworthy feature of these coins is that, apart from the variable letter on the obverse and their general classical style, they seem to have nothing in common. They bear three very different obverse designs, three very differ- ent reverse designs, and display different legends or no legend at all. If one can sometimes detect a theme or motif apparently common to two of these coins, then the third coin will prove the exception. For example, the reverse of the minim depicts a bird, perhaps a raven, the reverse of the silver unit depicts another bird, an eagle, but the reverse of the quarter stater depicts the head of mythical creature, a gorgon.11 Similarly, the obverses of the minim and the quarter stater depict plainer geometric designs, while the obverse of the silver unit depicts a detailed figurative type, a human head. This lack of consistency in the obverse design is impor- tant because it proves the detachment of these letters from the accompanying design, that is, that they do not necessarily serve to describe or number any aspect of this design. For example, it is highly unlikely that the letters A or B serve to identify the human head on the obverse of the silver unit, or any attribute of the person so depicted, whether Tincomarus himself or not, because the same letters occur within the interlocking squares on the minim with no apparent reference to any being, and one would hardly expect the same terms to be used both of a person as depicted on the silver unit and a geometric design as used on the minim.12 4 VA 378 = BMC 811−26 = ABC 1076. 5 Bean 2000, 242 distinguishes between the A-type, his TIN3-3, and the B-type, his TIN3-4. Neither VA nor ABC so distinguish. BMC 811−24 are A-type and BMC 825−26 are B-type. 6 VA 397 = BMC 880−905 = ABC 1106. 7 Bean 2000, 242 distinguishes between the A-type, his TIN3-5, and the B-type, his TIN3-6. Neither VA nor ABC so distin- guish. BMC 880−905 are all A-type. 8 VA 561 (A-type) and 562 (B-type) = BMC 1569−71 = ABC 1133. 9 Bean 2000, 242 distinguishes between the A-type, his TIN3-8, and the B-type, his TIN3-9, and the C-type, his TIN3-10. BMC 1569−71 are all A-type. 10 For the other minims with interlocking squares, see VA 383-1 = BMC 981−82 = ABC 1136 and VA 383-5 = ABC 1139. 11 One could argue that all three reverses depict a winged creature, although this verges on the trivial (all have eyes also, and so on). For a broader discussion of the occurrence of birds on the coinage of the Commian dynasty, see Woods 2014. 12 The letter A sometimes occurs behind a bearded head on one of the silver units issued by Andoco (VA 1868 = BMC 2018 = ABC 2721), much like on the silver unit here, but the fact that no other letter ever replaces it, and that this is indeed the first THE A, B, C OF THE CLASSICAL SERIES OF COINS UNDER TINCOMARUS 3 One should start any analysis of these coins by investigating whether the use of these variable letters upon the obverse owes anything to any of their potential classical models. The key point here is that some issues of Roman denarii during the late Republic did include vari- able symbols used as control-marks, but this was not a standard feature of Roman coinage, and did not continue into the Imperial period.13 Unfortunately, it is difficult to detect a direct classical model for any of the three types under discussion. In the case of the quarter stater, the tablet on the obverse represents a more elegant version of the incuse tablet on the obverse of several other quarter staters or staters of Tincomarus, where the incuse nature of this design suggests that it imitated a manufacturer’s stamp of the type often found on bricks or pottery.14 Yet it is noteworthy that the incuse tablet on these other coins never includes items above or below the tablet, and it is clear that the addition of a letter C above and variable letter below the tablet represents an innovation by the authority responsible for this coin. As for the reverse of the quarter stater, the facing head of the gorgon may have been inspired by the obverse of a denarius issued by L. Lentulus and C. Marcellus in 49 BC depicting a triskeles with a winged head of Medusa at its centre, but this coin reveals nothing that could have inspired the use of the letter C with variable A or B on the obverse of the quarter stater.15 Turning to the silver unit, the head on its obverse has been variously compared to a portrait of Augustus or Apollo, to the head of Apollo as depicted on the obverse of the denarii of C. Vibius Pansa about 90 BC in particular.16 It is of interest here that the denarii issued by Pansa do depict a variety of control marks.
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